An Eclectic Journal of Opinion, History, Poetry and General Bloviating

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Opening a Monument to Books—The New York Public Library

The New York Public Library was still under construction on the inside when this photo was taken in 1908.

There may be taller
buildings.There may even be more
beautiful buildings. There are certainly more profitable uses for prime Manhattan real estate.But maybe no building in New York City is more justifiably
admired and beloved than the Main Branch
of the New York Public Library which opened its doors for the first time on
this date in 1911 at 5th Avenue and 42nd
Street.

It was recently named
theStephen A. Schwarzman
Building in honor of the billionaire banker who pledge $100
million to restoration and repair of the structure.It hardly put a dent in his personal
fortune.Schwarzman recently made
headlines when he compared President
Barack Obama’s proposal to raise taxes to “Hitler’s invasion of Poland.”Luckily, no one outside his immediate family
and his billionaire buddy Mayor Michael
Bloomberg ever uses that name for the iconic building.

Several smaller
libraries were consolidated into a new city institution in the late 19th Century. Big gifts from a bequest
by former Governor and Democratic Presidential Candidate Samuel J.
Tilden and from library patron and steel
magnate Andrew Carnegie made possible the erection of an imposing building.

A rough design of the
building was developed by the System’s first superintendent, Dr. John Shaw Billings.His vision was the basis for a well publicized
competition among the top architects in the country.A relatively little known firm, Carrère
and Hastings, won for its Beaux-Arts
design.

Construction began in
1897 and the cornerstone laid in 1902.It
was the largest marble building ever
constructed in the United States with
walls three feet thick.It cost a hefty
$9 million when that was an almost unimaginable sum.It took 14 years for master craftsmen, many
of the European trained masons, to complete the building.It took more than a year just to move in and
shelf on miles of book cases the collections from the consolidated libraries.

President
William Howard Taft joined Governor John Alden Dix and Mayor
William Jay Gaynor for the opening ceremonies.

The library was not
only immediately one of the largest in the world, it was noted for an efficient
system to produce volumes from the vast stacks and deliver them into the hands
of patrons within moments.The first
book checked out, a scholarly study of the ethical works of Friedrich Nietzsche and Leo Tolstoy in German was in the hands of the library patron in just 11 minutes.

The most famous feature
of the library is the grand and vast Rose Main Reading Room.Walls
are lined with reference books, two rows of large tables accommodate readers,
researchers, and students and the room is appointed with crystal chandeliers,
brass lamps, and comfortable chairs.On
sunny days the room is flooded with light from a row of large arched
windows.The room has been featured in
movies, described in novels, and memorialized in poems by the likes of E. B.
White and Lawrence Ferlinghetti.

Almost as famous are the two proud lions which flank the wide stairs to
the main entrance.Original
names, Leo Astor and Leo Lenox in honor of two of the library’s
principal founders, Mayor Fiorello La Guardia
dubbed them Patience and Fortitude during the Great Depression when the great reading
rooms were filled with the out-of-work passing the time away in self
improvement and when some of the homeless reportedly found ways to sleep in the
stacks..

It took until the 1970
for continual acquisitions to fill up the generous space that had been included
in the original designs.In the 1980’s
the building was expanded by 125,000 square feet and literally miles of new shelf
space by constructing an underground addition below Bryant Park.

Work began in 2007 to
clean and restore the begrimed and damaged exterior of the building and
remodeling continued inside.More work
with Schwarzman’s—and other donors—money continues to be done.

Meanwhile Mayor
Bloomberg has slashed the operating budget of the Library, closed many
branches, and reduced hours open to the public.Money for new acquisitions has been cut to the bone.

The grand and beloved edifice
is in danger of rotting from the inside by neglect.